Download WordPress

Save it on your hard drive where you can find it easily. The file is only about 3 MB, so it will not take long to download.

Unpack WordPress

The file comes compressed, so once downloaded, you will need to unpack it. Most computers today already have a way to do this, so all you need to do is double click on the file you downloaded, and select a location for your files.

I suggest you begin right now by creating a Web Site folder on your hard drive where you can put any and all files, documents, and backups related to your new website. So in my case, I created a new folder called “My Web Site Grace Blogger.” Once the folder is created, I unpack all the files right into it.

Expanding the files should take less than a minute. Once this is done, you need to make some minor edits to one of the files, and then upload everything to your web host.

Rename wp-config-sample.php

After you have downloaded and unpacked the file, locate the directory where you just unpacked everything, and in there, you will find a file called wp-config-sample.php. You need to rename this file to wp-config.php.

Edit wp-config.php

Once the file name is changed, open it in a simple text editor. You can just use Notepad, otherwise, download and use Notepad++. Do not use a Word Processor like Microsoft Word or WordPerfect since these tend to add additional items to your code. I personally use Notepad++ because it organizes and colors the code sections very nicely, shows line numbers, and a variety of other helpful things for editing code.

You are going to have to edit several elements to this file. I will walk you through each one step by step. Make sure you don’t miss any of them, as they are all important to properly installing your WordPress Blog.

At this point some of you may be thinking it would have been easier to use the quick install script from your host. But most of the following steps are either skipped by these quick install scripts, OR you have to do them yourself anyway. So hang in there, the process if pretty painless and only takes about five minutes.

In editing your WP-Config, we are basically going to work our way through the “grey” areas of the file above.

Enter Database Name

/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'database_name_here');

Where do you get your database name? This is the name of the MySQL database you created when you installed MySQL. If you don’t remember the name of your database, login to your host, click on “MySQL Manager” and you should see the name of your database listed there. Enter the name of that database, EXACTLY as it is spelled, in the space where it says ‘database_name_here’. Make sure you leave the quote marks (this goes for all the following steps).

Enter Database User

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'username_here');

Now you need to enter your database user name. Again, you should have written this down or printed it from the PREVIOUS POST, but if not, you can easily obtain it by logging into your host, and accessing your database through the MySQL Manager. Put your user name in between the quote marks.

There is a chance you will have to edit the name of your Database Host, which by default is “localhost.” You should leave this as it is, but if the install process doesn’t work because it cannot find the database on your host, you will have to check with your host for what to put in this spot. You can also check this list on WordPress.org to see if your host is listed. If you use Omnis, like I do, leaving it as “localhost” works fine.

Add Some Salt to WordPress

One final step, and then we can save and upload everything. You need some salt.

What unique phrases should you put in there? Well, you could come up with something on your own, but the goal is to make them impossible to guess. And you don’t really need to know what they are, nor do you ever need to remember them.

So make them long, tricky, and impossible to remember. Better yet, just let WordPress generate random keys for you! Go the website they mention in the code and get your salt keys. It looks like this:

You can just copy the entire block, and paste it straight into your wp-config file. This will greatly increase the security of your blog.

Save wp-config.php

You are now done editing the wp-config-sample file. But you need to make sure you save it, NOT as wp-config-sample.php, but as wp-config.php.

Once you have save it with the new name, we are ready to upload WordPress to your new site.

Upload WordPress to Host

To upload the files to your server, you are going to need an “FTP Client.” It stands for “File Transfer Protocol.” If you don’t have one, I strongly recommend you use FileZilla, as it is free and easy to use.

As with the WordPress download, the FileZilla download will be compressed, and so you will need to unpack it and install it. You are probably familiar with how to do this. If not, leave a comment below, and I will see if I can help you out.

Using FileZilla

If you have never used an FTP Client, let me walk you through how to use FileZilla.

After FileZilla is installed, you will need to get your FTP information from your Host, and enter it into FileZilla.

Inside the Omnis Control Panel, the FTP information is found in the Control Panel under “FTP Users.”

When you click on this, you can set up your FTP login name and password. Usually, a Master FTP User was already created, and all you have to do is View/Edit it to see what the User Name is and change the Password if you want. If a FTP user is not already set up, then create one in the place provided.

Again, the picture below is from my own host, Omnis.com, but most hosts have similar options.

Once you find or create your FTP User name and password, write them down, print them, or keep this window open while you set up File Zilla for FTP access.

Open File Zilla, and select the site manager:

In the place provided, you will need to enter the items it asks for, which you just set up. Usually, the host is the name of your website, but instead of “www” put in “ftp.” So for graceblogger.com, it would be ftp.graceblogger.com. Note that these ftp settings are different for different web hosts, so you will have to check with your specific web host to get the exact settings.

Then click “Connect” and hopefully, you are now ready to upload your files.

You must decide where you want your blog to be. I HIGHLY recommend putting your blog on your homepage. This will increase blog traffic and usability. In the screen above, you would put all the files from inside the WordPress directory on the left, into the www directory on the right. If, however, you want it under a separate directory in your website, such as (e.g. http://example.com/blog/), then you would create that directory (you can do it right from this screen in FileZilla), and then upload all of the files from the WordPresss file on the left into that directory on the right.

To upload with FileZilla, you can drag and drop folders and files from the left to the right, or you can select the files on the left you want to upload, and right mouse click to upload.

While it is uploading, it will look something like the screen below:

There will be just over 800 files that transfer, and it will take a few minutes. Go fill up your coffee. Or, if you’re like me, sit there mesmerized by the flashing green bars and scrolling text as the queued files upload to your server.

When it is finished, you are now ready for the final step of installing your blog.

Installing Your WordPress Blog

Open your web browser of choice, type in your website name, followed by /wp-admin/install.php. If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should visit

http://example.com/wp-admin/install.php

If you installed WordPress in its own subdirectory called blog, for example, you should visit:

http://example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php

On my blog, it is as follows:

If all the files were uploaded properly, you will get this screen:

Enter the required information. Note that this is NOT the same information you used for your database. Instead, you are creating a username and password to set yourself up as the Blog Administrator. If should probably use an email which has your blog name in it, which again, you can set up through your Website Host Controal Panel.

Once everything is entered, click “Install WordPress” and if all went well, you will see this screen:

You have done all this work, you might as wellclick the Log In from the bottom there. Enter your Username and Password, and once you do, you get your first look at your Blog Dashboard.

Isn’t it pretty!?

After you have been blogging for a while, this dashboard will provide you a feeling of warmth and welcome as you log in each day to write your posts, check your blog stats, and respond to comments. But we’ll get to all that later.

For right now, sit back and enjoy your success at installing your WordPress blog!

Question: Installing WordPress is new to me, so I’m trying to figure out the big picture. It seems to me that this WordPress installation is the backbone software for a WordPress blog. Once it is installed, then one could install a theme on top of it, correct?

Yes, absolutely correct. The WordPress installation is the software behind the blog. Then you can make it look and act differently depending on which theme you choose and which plugins you install.

Here on this blog, I use Standard Theme, as it is highly customizable (I have only begun to scratch the surface with tutorials here on this blog showing what it can do), and I use about 10 plugins or so.

Hi Jeremy – I came across your blog via Frank Viola’s blog. I am getting ready to start up my blog again, and have transitioned to the Standard Theme on WordPress.com. Can you give me an idea what the advantage of doing a self-hosted blog via WordPress.org is, versus just using WordPress.com? I am not really clear on the advantage, and using WordPress.com seems much simpler and cheaper. I’m sure there are advantages… I just don’t know what they are. Thanks!

There are numerous advantages, but if you are uncertain, might just want to stick with WordPress.com until you get a good audience going. Self-hosting is certainly more expensive.

The main advantage is having more control over the look and feel of your blog by using the vast universe of WordPress plugins. If there is something you wish your blog did, but WordPress.com won’t let you do it, there is probably a plugin for it that will allow you to do it through WordPress.org.

If you later want to switch from Wordress.com to WordPress.org, the process is quite simple. So stick with what you’ve got for now until you get a good audience up and running, and then maybe consider switching.

I installed WordPress into my host site. I do have an FTP program now, and was wondering, should I copy all of the files into the FTP program? Am I using the right terminology? If so, is it a drag and drop thing? Or, are there other steps I need to take?

I am sorry that I am being such a pain. I don’t know where I uploaded my files to. I am not sure how to select where they go in Filezilla. Could you shed some light on how to select the database for the destination? I am hoping I won’t have too many questions after that. No promises though. 😉